I changed the power steering pump the other day and touched nothing else under the hood. After the swap I turned the engine over and the engine is idling between 3500 and 4000 RPM. I have checked vacuum hoses, IAP, and throttle cable but all seem to check out okay. I am not that experienced when it comes to jeeps so I could be over looking something or completely oblivious to something. Any help? My jeep is a 1995 jeep wrangler 2.5 se model btw.

Check your throttle body throttle linkage cable for the throttle. It is real easy to bump this and cause it to bend and then bind right were the cable exits the outer shell above the valve cover leading to the throttle body. Beyond that, check for vacuum leaks. Spray throttle body cleaner while running around suspected areas and listen for a change in rpm.

Okay so I've went through and cleaned the IAC and the throttle body. I was convinced that would be it because it was nasty dirty, but no luck. Still idling at 3500-4000 RPM. I keep checking vacuum hoses but I'm not getting any where. May e I'm looking for the wrong thing. Any pointers on where I should be checking.

I would start at the throttle body there are 4 or 5 that plug in there. If you bumped any of them they may have cracked. It could also be the intake manifold gasket. The intake may have gotten knocked around a little while doing the ps pump

Spray some tb cleaner on the intake manifold where it bolts to the head. That will make the engine bog down a bit if you have vac leak there. Also do the same to the air sensor and in that general area. Go under the jeep with a flashlight and look for cracks on the underside of the intake . Spray some there too (might help cause it's a bit hard to spot small stuff from that angle). I've also heard of vac leaks at the injectors so i'd spray just a bit there too.

If all checks out, assuming it's not the lines or elbows and such, take the tb out look at the butterfly and see if it is closed properly when closed. If the gap is too big the iac will close as much as it can and you will continue sucking air from there. I had an issue where mine was too open and had to close it up a bit. Just make sure it's not rubbing the walls of the tb at any position.

You can test out the tps with a simple volt meter for proper operation also.

Ill check it this weekend as soon as I get a chance. If ends up being a gasket is that too difficult to replace myself? Do I need any special tools or a lot of patience lol thanks again. Ill check back to report the issue.

Yea hopefully it's not just to save urself some work but no worries dude . it's not that bad i think the only time i did it took about 4-5 hours but i took my time and drank beers ..it was hot as heell that day lol

No special tools just wrenches, ratchets, sockets extension or two and elbow grease take ur time and label things and keep them organized since u've never done it. If you gonna do all that might as well change out the manifold bolts imho i saw a comment recently that the gasket has to face a certain way. Search around u'll find it..

Okay so after much debate, troubleshooting, blood, tears, and sweat....... Gasket is rotted. I tightened down everything and sealed some things up so soon enough ill tear everything apart. But I wanted to check in and let everyone know my diagnosis. Thanks for all the help.